High School students got a good look at the reality of the danger of drunken driving Tuesday, May 5.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District provided two wrecked vehicles and personnel for a crash scene simulation at Husky Field. Police, ambulance and rescue workers from SHFAD and Sweet Home Police Department responded to the simulated crash. REACH Emergency Medical Services responded with a helicopter out of Corvallis, and Linn County Central Dispatch coordinated the medics and rescue workers.
“The goal is to help them understand the consequences of drinking and driving,” School Resource Officer John Trahan said. “Crashes like the one depicted have consequences to families and the community.”
In the scenario displayed Tuesday, seven high school students were in a pickup truck that collided with a car containing the Dan Tow family. Tow is a teacher and coach at the high school.
Two people were dead on arrival. Trahan had three high school students come out of the stands every 18 minutes during the assembly to simulate the number of people who literally would die nationally during the course of the assembly, one every 22 minutes in actuality, he said.
Officer Sam Posthuma was first on the scene.
“Typically, we respond first because we’re out on the road,” Trahan said. Posthuma simulated administering a field sobriety test to pickup truck driver Logan Clark, followed by a simulated arrest for drunken driving.
SHFAD paramedics and rescue workers arrived next to extract the victims from their vehicles and treat the injured, including using the Jaws of Life to cut away the top of the car to reach the Tow family.
REACH arrived, and paramedics loaded the “critically injured” Justin Tow, 7, son of math teacher Dan Tow, onto the helicopter. REACH took off, circled around and landed to let him off.
“Our role that particular day was simply to transport a critical patient,” said Jan Acebo, Regional Outreach Coordinator for REACH. “We are an ambulance. We fly instead of drive when time is of the essence.”
The simulation was a chance for REACH to be involved in the community, he said. “We love to fly. We enjoy what we do, and most importantly we enjoy the community involvement.”
Marie Armstrong of the Mothers Against Drunken Driving Eugene Chapter, told students about the sense of loss she experienced when her 20-year-old son was killed in a crash caused by a drunken driver in Cottage Grove.
“The speaker really left an impact on everybody, I think,” student Karlie McCubbins said.
Student Sebas Mauer said the message “definitely got to some people” in the crowd. He said seeing the mock accident scene set up was kind of weird after having nearly hitting another car invovled in an accident a couple of months ago.
Sam Whitehead said Armstrong’s message about her son’s death “really hit hard.”
“It was a real eye-opener,” said student Josh Lowe said. “You hear people talking about it.”
But rarely is it something people see firsthand like it was during the mock crash event, he said.
Students were impressed by the helicopter and the rescue equipment.
“It was really cool to see how they get people out of the car,” McCubbins said.
Students playing roles in the mock crash were Clark, Faith Helfrich, Tanesia McDowell, Norajean Lemar, Paige Niemi, Afton Rodgers, Kenny Stovell, Cody Norman, Ryan Graville and Nikki Smith.
The Tow family includes Dan and Michele and their three children, Justin, Ally and Casey.
Trahan extended special thanks to SHFAD Battalion Chief Doug Emmert for organizing the fire department’s role in the simulation and biology teacher Rob Younger, a SHFAD volunteer, for his help in organizing the event.
To see more photos of this event, click on “News Photos” in the Photo Gallery and then click on “DUI Demo.”